Financial Collaboration Networks

ABSTRACT

The disclosed system and method for providing financial collaboration networks generally includes a data processing system adapted to permit a plurality of group collaborators to perform financial transactions with a plurality of users or network participants. Representative embodiments of the present invention generally provide web-based financial collaboration systems that may be adapted to permit a plurality of borrowers, for example, to negotiate more favorable terms with a lender for subsequent loans made to the borrower members of the collaborative group.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/886,329 filed on Sep. 20, 2010, which is acontinuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/374,727filed on Mar. 13, 2006, which claimed the benefit of: U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application No. 60/661,148 filed Mar. 11, 2005, all of which areincorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention generally concerns financial and businesspractices; and more particularly, representative and exemplaryembodiments of the present invention generally relate to financialcollaboration and lending networks.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

Debt generally allows people and organizations to do things that theyotherwise wouldn't be able or allowed to. Typically, people inindustrialized nations use debt to purchase houses, cars and many otherthings too expensive to buy with cash on hand. Businesses also use debtin many ways to leverage the investment made in their private equity.

The leveraging of the borrower's finances (i.e., the proportion of debtto equity) is considered important in determining the level of riskassociated with an investment; the more debt per equity, the riskier thetransaction in terms of probability of repayment. Debt is generallyregarded as a sign of optimism and that a society believes in its future(especially earnings).

In general, financial lending services are an established and integralpart of our economy. The lending industry has many different segmentswith several product offerings that are serviced by numerous types ofentities, which may comprise intermediaries (e.g., ‘middle men’).Examples of representative segments include consumer lending andbusiness lending, as well as others. Lending markets further consist ofsub-segments including prime and sub-prime lending. Product offeringswithin the consumer segment, for example, include home, auto, homeequity, credit cards, etc. Representative product offerings within thebusiness segment include lines of credit, equipment loans, buildingloans, and the like. Representative entities that lend capital includebanks, savings and loans, finance companies, as well as others.

In general, the majority of conventional lending has involved theprocess representatively illustrated in FIG. 1. The process typicallyincludes multiple individuals and entities (100 a, 100 b, 100 c, 100 d)with various risk profiles needing financing. The process may includemultiple lending entities 120 openly competing to attract multipleindependent borrowers (100 a, 100 b, 100 c, 100 d). Lenders 120 may useportfolio diversification to reduce risk and maximize profits. Lenders120 have previously employed portfolio diversification to theiradvantage because they have the power to structure the portfolios. Theyacquired customers, diversify risk and extracted a risk premium fortheir efforts. Lenders 120 have also charged interest aimed at coveringcost of capital, cost to acquire customers, cost to cover defaults,operating costs, as well as a target rate of return. As part of the costto acquire customers, some lenders 120 aggregate volume through brokers110 (e.g., as in the case of mortgage brokers), thereby furtherincreasing costs. This conventional workflow discourages additionalnon-traditional lending sources, such as pension funds, corporationswith excessive cash on-hand, or governments, for example, from moredirectly entering the lending marketplace in order to earn more thanmoney market rates. Money market rates are those low rates offered bybanks and others for merely holding cash. The conventional loan processconcludes with borrowers receiving funds (130 a, 130 b, 130 c, 130 d)and repaying lenders (140 a, 140 b, 140 c, 140 d). Alternatively,borrowers in default (150 a, 150 b, 150 c, 150 d) may enter collections160 if they are unable to continue payments under the program.

Conventional lending processes may be efficient for individuals andentities that have access to financing; however, highly leveragedindividuals and entities, and those with less than perfect creditratings, generally pay substantial interest penalties from this processand may have fewer available financing options. Conventional lendingprograms generally operate to prevent individual borrowers from directlyparticipating in cost savings typically associated with diversificationor the leveraging of terms to negotiate lower fees. Accordingly, theconventional lending art is inefficient for borrowers, since itgenerally prevents them from obtaining institutional knowledge toleverage volume in negotiations with suppliers. Moreover, theconventional lending art also inhibits lowering borrower costs throughrisk diversification.

In addition, the current lending process is inefficient because it ishighly fragmented. There are many entities such as banks, savings andloans and finance companies. There are also many brokers orintermediaries that initiate and aggregate loans. All of these entitiesmust support their independent operations. These costs, in turn,contribute to excessive lending fees.

In addition, the large number of lenders or intermediaries in themarketplace has forced many lenders to practice predatory lending inorder to meet financial growth forecasts. For example, many credit cardcompanies have promotional practices that offer low up front interestrates in order to attract customers. Once they have the customers, theymonitor their customer's credit reports to detect any changes in riskprofile. If a change is detected, sometimes even minor, they usuallyraise the interest rate of the customer to as high of a rate asallowable by law. As another example, Lenders routinely charge a varyingnumber of fees aimed at improving profitability and not improving theprocess. Examples of these types of fees include late payments and overcredit line fees.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In various representative aspects, the present invention providessystems and methods for enabling financial collaboration networks.Exemplary features generally include a data processing system adapted topermit a plurality of group collaborators to perform financialtransactions with a plurality of users or network participants.

Advantages of the present invention will be set forth in the DetailedDescription which follows and may be apparent from the DetailedDescription or may be learned by practice of exemplary embodiments ofthe invention. Still other advantages of the invention may be realizedby means of any of the instrumentalities, methods or combinationsparticularly pointed out in the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Representative elements, operational features, applications and/oradvantages of the present invention reside inter alia in the details ofconstruction and operation as more fully hereafter depicted, describedand claimed—reference being made to the accompanying drawings forming apart hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout. Otherelements, operational features, applications and/or advantages willbecome apparent in light of certain exemplary embodiments recited in theDetailed Description, wherein:

FIG. 1 representatively illustrates a block diagram of a conventionallending system in accordance with the prior art;

FIG. 2 representatively illustrates a block diagram of a collaborativeloan network in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 representatively illustrates a block diagram of a collaborativeloan network in accordance with another exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 4 representatively illustrates a block diagram of a collaborativeassistance network in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 5 representatively illustrates a block diagram of a collaborativevirtual treasurer network in accordance with an exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 6 representatively illustrates a block diagram of a collaborativeinvestment network in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention; and

FIG. 7 representatively illustrates a block diagram of a collaborativenetwork and marketplace for providing financial products and services inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Elements in the Figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity andhave not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions ofsome of the elements in the Figures may be exaggerated relative to otherelements to help improve understanding of various embodiments of thepresent invention. Furthermore, the terms “first”, “second”, and thelike herein, if any, are used inter alia for distinguishing betweensimilar elements and not necessarily for describing a sequential orchronological order. Any of the preceding terms so used may beinterchanged under appropriate circumstances such that variousembodiments of the invention described herein may be capable ofoperation in other configurations and/or orientations than thoseexplicitly illustrated or otherwise described.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

The following representative descriptions of the present inventiongenerally relate to exemplary embodiments and the inventor's conceptionof the best mode, and are not intended to limit the applicability orconfiguration of the invention in any way. Rather, the followingdescription is intended to provide convenient illustrations forimplementing various embodiments of the invention. As will becomeapparent, changes may be made in the function and/or arrangement of anyof the elements described in the disclosed exemplary embodiments withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Various representative implementations of the present invention may beapplied to any system for facilitating online financial transactions.Certain representative implementations may include, for example:allowing borrowers to collaborate to negotiate better terms withlenders; permitting organizations to collect dues from their members;creating an exchange for the lending of capital between participantsthat are either known or unknown to each other; enabling open or closedlending networks; and/or the like.

In a representative embodiment, a lending network marketplace may besuitably configured to provide borrowing and lending processes that arefacilitated by software, the Internet and/or conventional fundtransferring technologies. A benefit of various exemplary embodiments ofthe present invention is directed to increasing the financing optionsfor individuals and entities. For example, the present invention mayfocus on reducing borrowing costs for individuals and entities. Arepresentative embodiment of the present invention is an onlinemarketplace that allows individuals or entities to gain exposure,leverage and transparency by allowing them to join and/or create privateor open lending networks. Furthermore, the invention may also permitindividuals and/or entities to participate in other network structures.

In an exemplary embodiment, the present invention permits individualsand/or entities to lend funds to certain networks. Specifically, thepresent invention may allow borrowers to locate other borrowers so theycan formally or informally network together to obtain benefits, whichmay include portfolio diversification. Additionally, the presentinvention may allow individuals and entities to tap private networks toborrow funds at no cost, less than market cost or allow individuals orentities access to an open network of individuals or entities to borrowfunds from. The present invention may further provide individuals orentities interested in lending funds a mechanism to do so. Moreover, thepresent invention may allow for the creation of other network structuresaimed at improving buying and negotiating power.

In a representative application, the present invention pertains to:increasing lending options for individuals and entities; reducing costsfor borrowers by allowing them to benefit from risk diversification; andlowering costs for lenders by reducing their customer acquisition and/ortransaction/duplication costs. The present invention may be facilitatedby software or the Internet which may allow for the administration ofprivate or public lending networks. Because of the reach of theInternet, participants in these networks may be located in various partsof the world or networks may be directed to specific countries orregions of the world.

A representative embodiment of the present invention comprises anon-line lending network marketplace where individuals and/or entitiescan join and/or create various types of private and public lendingnetworks. In general, the present invention creates an open and moretransparent Money Market. This transparent Money Market may be directedto a specific country, region of the world or the entire world. As usedherein, a private network generally refers to a group of individuals orentities that are somehow related or known to each other. A publicnetwork may be defined as a group of individuals or entities that arenot necessarily related or known to each other. Individuals may alsocreate hybrid networks that contain known and unknown individuals.

Creating public and private lending networks may provide borrowers withsubstantial benefits over conventional lending. For example, borrowersmay have a mechanism whereby they can pool demand in order to increasetheir indirect buying or negotiating power, as representativelyillustrated in FIG. 2, for example.

A representative process generally involves an online marketplacelending network system 200 (i.e., financial collaboration networksystem) accessed by a plurality of participants (i.e., individualsand/or entities) (205 a, 205 b, 205 c, 205 d) with various risk profilesneeding loan financing. The process may include multiple lendingentities 120 receiving offers to finance a plurality of borrower groups(210 a, 210 b, 210 c, 210 d). Borrower groups (210 a, 210 b, 210 c, 210d) may be grouped by financial collaboration network system 200 or maybe self-assembled by the borrowers (205 a, 205 b, 205 c, 205 d)themselves. Borrower groups (210 a, 210 b, 210 c, 210 d) may beassembled by risk profile, financing product, or any other parameter.For example, borrower groups (210 a, 210 b, 210 c, 210 d) may compriseindividual members that share a substantially common purpose forparticipating in the financial collaboration data network 200 or atleast one relational characteristic substantially common to the group.Representative relational characteristics may include sex, race,religion, ethnic background, language, sexual orientation, age,political philosophy, academic attainment, profession, employment,genetic relationship, familial relationship, professional interest,business interest, recreational interest, charitable interest,investment interest, shared life experience, country, region of theworld, or friendship.

The loan process proceeds with borrowers receiving funds (230 a, 230 b,230 c, 230 d) and repaying lender(s) (240 a, 240 b, 240 c, 240 d).Alternatively, borrowers in default (250 a, 250 b, 250 c, 250 d) mayenter collections 160 if they are unable to continue payments under theprogram.

Additionally, borrowers may have a mechanism whereby they can recognizethe benefits of portfolio risk diversification to reduce their costs.For example, the online marketplace network may be suitably adapted toqualify buyers, structure requests into portfolios, and lend funds atPay Day loan rates (i.e., $50 charge for borrowing funds for two weeks;with an APR of approximately 244%). Funds may be paid to borrowers andrepaid to the marketplace network electronically. The online marketplacenetwork system may be configured to calculate a return for the portfolio(taking into account defaults and collections), subtract a marketplacefee, and refund remaining funds to the borrowers electronically. Theonline marketplace system may also create other portfolio lendingnetworks for other loan products. These portfolios may also bestructured to have asset backed guarantees. For example, see thefollowing table:

TABLE 1 Pay Day Portfolio Lending Network Borrowers Loan Amount FundDate Repayment Initial Fees Payments Due Payments Received 1 $50015^(TH) of month 30^(TH) of month $50 $550 $0 2 $500 15^(TH) of month30^(TH) of month $50 $550 $0 3 $500 15^(TH) of month 30^(TH) of month$50 $550 $0 4 $500 15^(TH) of month 30^(TH) of month $50 $550 $0 5 $50015^(TH) of month 30^(TH) of month $50 $550 $0 6 $500 15^(TH) of month30^(TH) of month $50 $550 $0 7 $500 15^(TH) of month 30^(TH) of month$50 $550 $0 8 $500 15^(TH) of month 30^(TH) of month $50 $550 $0 9 $50015^(TH) of month 30^(TH) of month $50 $550 $0 10  $500 15^(TH) of month30^(TH) of month $50 $550 $0 11 to 1000 $495,000 15^(TH) of month30^(TH) of month $49,500 $544,500 $544,500 TOTAL $500,000 $50,000$550,000 $544,500

In this exemplary process of a Pay Day portfolio lending networkaccording to an representative embodiment of the present invention: themarketplace has structured a Pay Day loan portfolio for 1,000 people and1,000 people request and obtained funding; the loan amounts are $500each; Electronic Fund Transfer (“EFT”) funding takes place on the 15thof the current month; repayment takes place on the 30th of the currentmonth; the initial fee to borrowers is set at a current market rate of$50 (approx. 244% APR); total payment due upon repayment is $550 perborrower; payments received were $544,000 for all borrowers at the 30thof the month (i.e., 10 people defaulted); a gain is calculated for theportfolio on the order of $34,500, which is calculated by taking totalpayments received and subtracting the original principal lent; and amarketplace fee of $10 per person (approx. 50% APR) is collected.

Borrowers may be grouped in any number of ways, such as one largeportfolio for a given period of time, or in smaller portfolios ofvarying sizes. Funds may be lent by the marketplace network systemdirectly or by other lenders invited to bid on each portfolio (e.g.,with the lowest rate landing the business and marketplace network fees).Moreover, in various other embodiments, in accordance with furtherrepresentative aspects of the present invention, borrowers may be ableto leverage personal lending networks to borrow even more inexpensively.

Creating public and private lending networks may provide lenders one ormore benefits over conventional lending. For instance, it may reducelender's customer acquisition costs (e.g., reducing the need for brokersby providing pools of borrowers ready to transact). As another example,it may reduce lender's operating costs via payment automation. Manypayments may be transacted with EFTs. Moreover it may give lendersaccess to new borrowers. Non-typical lenders may have an opportunity tofund lending networks.

The invention may embody an online marketplace system 200 that isaccessible over a network such as the Internet, and may be accessiblethrough a website, viewed on a monitor and/or the like. The onlinemarketplace system may include software and may be run on servers thatconnect to the Internet. In other representative embodiments,participants (205 a, 205 b, 205 c, 205 d) may access the network by, forexample, phoning a call center where requests and information may beordered through employees and uploaded to the system.

In some embodiments, participants (205 a, 205 b, 205 c, 205 d) mayaccess the network at a physical branch or affiliate via on-sitemonitors or through onsite employees. In further embodiments, paymentsmay be automated over the Internet primarily in the form of EFTs or viaany other method, whether now known or otherwise hereafter described inthe art, for transmitting funds. Participants may also be asked to joinand deposit funds to the marketplace so that loans and payments can betransferred from account to account without the need for EFTs. As anexample, if the marketplace is a bank where individuals have bankaccounts one would be able to move funds from one account to anotherwith little or no cost.

Financial collaboration networks 300 in accordance with other exemplaryaspects of the present invention may allow individuals or entities tolend to each other, as representatively illustrated in FIG. 3.Individuals or entities (305 a, 305 b, 305 c, 305 d) may be assembledinto groups (310, 311) suitably configured as private lending networks,for example, that pool payments (340 a, 340 b, 340 c, 340 d) anddistribute payouts (330 a, 330 b, 330 c, 330 d) from group funds (320,321) to certain participants at a lower cost or no cost (lesstransaction fees) and may have the option of charging interest. In thisembodiment, borrowers may leverage a network of known or unknownindividuals or entities to lower borrowing costs and expand fundingoptions. Borrowers in default (350 a, 350 b, 350 c, 350 d) may entercollections 160 if they are unable to continue payments under theprogram.

Another aspect of some embodiments of the invention is that individualsmay be able to borrow together in portfolios or via syndicate borrowing.Borrowers may join networks that effectively act as a loan portfolio.Individuals may be charged market rates for loans that have similar timehorizons. Once the loans are closed, a return may be calculated for theportfolio and profits, in excess of marketplace fees, may be returned toborrowers—thereby effectively lowering their total costs of borrowing.This provides borrowers a mechanism to reverse the benefit of portfoliodiversification from lenders to borrowers. This may be attained byproviding borrowers a marketplace where they can pool funds and leveragebuying power and transparency.

In representative and exemplary embodiments, financial collaborationnetwork systems may be offered by product type. As an example, there maybe portfolio lending networks for borrowers seeking short term loanssuch as Pay Day loans, car loans, automobile title loans, home loans,home equity loans and debt repayment loans, among others.

In some exemplary embodiments, the marketplace may offer additionalservices. Some of the services may include collection's, debtcounseling, affiliations with other businesses and retailers and so on.In other exemplary embodiments, the users may be routed through aregistration and authentication process to ensure security. They mayalso be required to provide pertinent banking details to automatepayments.

In further representative embodiments, the financial collaborationmarketplace may offer a vast array of lending network pools with aplurality of structures and with a plurality of parameters; one or moreof which may reduce borrowing costs and improve negotiating leverage. Afew of these embodiments may include portfolio lending networks, privatelending networks and open lending networks. It will be appreciate,however, that once financial collaboration systems are introduced toparticipants, and given the variety of customized mechanisms of useavailable to the participants, it will be difficult to comprehensivelydescribe every way that financial collaboration networks may be used inorder to provide a benefit to the participants. That notwithstanding,the following examples are provided as specific enabling disclosuresthat may be generalized to any system or method for providing financialcollaboration networks in accordance with representative aspects of thepresent invention:

Example 1 Portfolio Lending Financial Collaboration Networks

The marketplace may create portfolio lending networks for loan productsthat have a high demand and where there is fragmentation in the industrythat contributes to excessive fees and transaction costs. Examples ofsuch loan products include Pay Day loans (small short term loans), usedcar loans, high interest credit cards, and the like. Pay Day loansillustrate how an exemplary embodiment of the disclosed financialcollaboration network (i.e., a portfolio lending network), may operate.Currently, banks and check cashing outlets offer short term loans forvery large fees. A typical example of such a loan is one that is for$500, costs $50 and is good for 2 weeks. This has an annualizedpercentage rate of approximately 243%. The marketplace may offer a poolof participants (sizes may vary) the opportunity to borrow the same $500for the same $50 and the same 2 weeks. Once the participants repay theloans, the marketplace may calculate the gain/loss and may refund anygains less a marketplace fee to the group of borrowers. As an example,assume that the marketplace issued $500 loans to a pool of 1000 peoplefor a fee of $50 to be paid in two weeks along with the principal. Thatis $500,000 in loans today and $550,000 to be repaid in two weeks. Intwo weeks, we may expect 990 of the individuals to repay the $500 plusthe $50 fee and 10 that perhaps do not repay. Those that do not pay maygo to collections. In this example, the portfolio has a gain of $44,500less fees of $10 (or some other amount) per loan (50% interestannualized on lending the $500,000 for 2 weeks=$10,000). The remaining$34,500 may be returned to the 990 that paid ($35 per person).Therefore, by borrowing as part of a portfolio lending network that ismanaged by the marketplace, borrowers only pay $15 instead of paying $50(annualized savings of 170%) as representatively illustrated vide supra.The marketplace may fund these loans directly or may allow others tofund and may require collateral. Portfolio Lending Networks allowsindividuals or entities the ability to join together, to jointlydiversify risk and gain the benefits of portfolio diversification. Thisstructure allows individuals and entities with a propensity to pay a newand lower cost way to borrow.

Example 2 Private Lending Financial Collaboration Networks

In this representative embodiment, the present invention may be suitablyconfigured to permit individuals to organize and facilitate privatelending or savings networks. These online networks may allowparticipants to save money on a weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or othertimeline basis while simultaneously lending money to participants in thenetwork over that same period. The system may allow individuals in anetwork to pool their regular payments so one or more of theparticipants is able to get a lump sum distribution over the giventime-period as generally illustrated vide infra:

TABLE 2 Private Lending Financial Collaboration Networks Week 1 Week 2Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10 Totalsparticipant 1 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $1,000 2$100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $1,000 3 $100 $100$100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $1,000 4 $100 $100 $100 $100$100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $1,000 5 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100$100 $100 $100 $100 $1,000 6 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100$100 $100 $1,000 7 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100$1,000 8 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $1,000 9 $100$100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $1,000 10  $100 $100 $100$100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $100 $1,000 Weekly Payouts $1,000 $1,000$1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $10,000Transaction Fees $10 $10 $10 $10 $10 $10 $10 $10 $10 $10 $100 User Fees$5 $5 $5 $5 $5 $5 $5 $5 $5 $5 $50 Net Proceeds $985 $985 $985 $985 $985$985 $985 $985 $985 $985 $9,850 Cost to User/Fees Earned 1.5% 1.5% 1.5%1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% Total Fees $15 $15 $15 $15 $15 $15$15 $15 $15 $15 $150

As generally illustrated in Table 2, representative parameters to be setby the collaboration group initiator and agreed to by participants mayinclude, inter alia: the value of the Personal Lending Network (e.g.,$10,000); the amount of funds needed (e.g., $1,000); the number ofparticipants (e.g., 10); frequency of payments; duration (e.g., 10weeks); order of Pay Outs (e.g., participant 1 in week 1, participant 2in week 2, participant 3 in week 3, etc.); whether participants signpromissory notes; whether the collaboration group collects on defaultamounts; transaction fee(s) (e.g., 1.5%); user fee (e.g., $5); etc.

As a representative example, if the total of all monthly payments in anetwork totals $3,000, one person in the network may receive a payment(e.g., loan) for $3,000 for that month's distribution. The process couldconceivably continue until every participant has made his or herrequired payments and every participant has received a substantiallyequal lump sum payment. This process allows individuals to networkborrowing to reduce expenses. Furthermore, the network may chargeinterest. Individuals participating may agree on a distributionpreference.

More specifically, representative method steps in accordance withexemplary aspects of the present invention may include the following: anindividual or entity in search of funds may enter the marketplaceelectronically or with the assistance of marketplace employees andcreate a group; the participant may name the group and invite partiesthat have not necessarily previously agreed to participate; theparticipant opening the group may be termed the “initiator”; theinitiator adds their names, email addresses and other contactinformation to the collaboration group database; the initiator fills outcertain personal information such as their banking, savings or creditcard information and contact details; other participants may also fillout similar information; etc. Gathering such information may be helpfulbecause the network may be adapted to administer savings and loandeposits and/or payments automatically.

The initiator defines the parameters of the group, including but notlimited to characteristics such as duration, frequency of payments,amount of payments, pay out frequency, order of payment, collateral,promissory notes, collection rights in the event of default, requirementfor credit information or other personal information such as socialsecurity, place of employment, start date and any other potentialparameters. The collaboration group marketplace may dictate a minimumamount of required information. The initial parameters to choose frommay include but are not limited to any of the following in addition toother parameters as one reasonably skilled in the art might expect:selection of the network size; selection of the group name; definitionof the amount of capital required by each participant; selection of theduration; selection of the frequency of payments; the selection of thedistribution frequency; selection of the order of payments toparticipants (in some cases, the initiator may be awarded the option oftaking the first distribution); the initiator may have the authority toset distribution order; alternatively, conjunctively or sequentially,the initiator may also have the option of randomly sorting all or anyremaining priorities for payment in the repayment queue; determinationif participants must collateralize their participation or agree to apromissory note; determination if participants may need to provide otherpersonal information including but not limited to social securitynumber, address, alternate contact information and any other informationthat may be relevant in the future; selection of alternate initiators(it may be necessary to replace the initiator for one of many reasons,including default); acceptance of the marketplace's terms and conditionsof participation including applicable fees; confirmation that he/she isaware of the options available in case of default.

Options available in the case of default include, but are not limitedto, the following: If the defaulting participant has already receivedtheir distribution, the system may assume and calculate a loss. In thiscase, the system may add the defaulter's payments, subtract thedefaulter's distribution amount, and divide by the total number ofpayments left to be made by the remaining participants to calculate theadditional monthly payment for each remaining participant.Alternatively, conjunctively or sequentially, the amount may besubtracted from the lump sum payments of each remaining participant.Effectively, the system may be suitably adapted to calculate alternatemeans of covering the loss by the remaining network.

The initiator may decide to increase the remaining payments for eachparticipant by the additional payment amount or decrease the lump sumpayouts for each remaining participant (e.g., continuation). If aremaining participant has already been given a pay out, that participantmay potentially be required to return the difference on the nextscheduled payment.

The initiator may decide to terminate the network immediately upon thedefault of one or more of the member participants. The system may beconfigured to calculate the total loss of the defaulters, calculate whateach participant has paid in, calculate who has received a distribution,and then calculate the impact of the loss to each remaining participant.For participants that have received a distribution, the system maycalculate how much must be repaid so that the funds may be re-allocatedin a proportional manner to the participants who made regular paymentsbut did not receive a distribution.

Any participant that defaults may be responsible for paying any and allcosts associated with collection efforts on the part of the marketplace(e.g., collaboration group). The initiator and/or a vote of theparticipants may exercise the option of requesting that the groupcollect on their behalf at any time. If the participant defaulting hasnot received their pay out. The system may calculate an overage. In thiscase, the system may be configured to add the defaulter's payments anddivide by the total number of payments left to be made by the remainingparticipants to calculate the additional monthly payment for eachremaining participant. Alternatively, conjunctively or sequentially,that amount may be subtracted from the lump sum distributions of eachremaining participant. Effectively, the system may be configured tocalculate alternate means of covering repayment of the overage by theremaining network.

After the initiator has completed the registration process, the systemmay be suitably configured to send the participants invitations to joinvia email or other communication mechanism. Participants may accept andcomplete the registration process and accept to comply by thecollaboration group's terms and conditions, electronically or via someother communication mechanism.

The Initiator may also go to the Market Place and join an establishedLending Network. This is a Lending Network that has been substantiallybeen already set-up. The Initiator would still have to send out invitesto other participants if it is a private lending network.

Example 3 Open Lending Financial Collaboration Networks

Open lending networks comprise similar functionality as described inExample 2 vide supra except that participants in the open lendingnetworks are less likely to have previous experiences with otherparticipants. They may know the rating of each individual based uponpast experience in the marketplace. Participants may start a closednetwork as described above or open or join an open lending network. Thefollowing are some of the differences between the two: Any interestedand qualified parties may participate. Participants must generallyregister with the marketplace to participate. The marketplace encouragesand structures the development of networks with common interests.Examples of such networks may include, for example, military officernetwork, teacher network, church network, and/or the like.

A rating mechanism may be developed and used to assist initiators andparticipants in understanding the risk of participants. This ratingmechanism may involve one or more of the following criteria: currenttrack record of participants, credit worthiness of participant, lengthof employment, verifiable references, collateral, including auto loansor other assets, etc. In a further embodiment, the marketplace mayqualify each individual for a credit limit to be used as guarantee,offer default insurance to participants, and add new ways of structuringnetworks.

The marketplace may define whether to charge interest or fees and whatthose costs may be. In one case, participants who obtained distributionslater in the program may collect interest from those who obtainedearlier distributions. This may encourage more lenders to lend. Lendersmay comprise persons, businesses, banks, hedge funds, as well as others.

Example 4 Assistance Financial Collaboration Networks

The disclosed financial collaboration networks may offer a paymentservice that allows participants to “sponsor” an individual or entityfor a period of time. This assistance collaboration network may be usedfor individuals who are in need of financial assistance, including butnot limited to college students and individuals who have lost a job. Inthis case, a network of individuals may transfer money on a regularbasis to one individual. As an example, a church may have a member thatlost a job and needs financial assistance for a period of time. In thiscase, an initiator could invite the church community to join by donatingfunds for a period of time. The initiator may establish a network ofparticipants to make needed payments for a specified interval and for agiven period of time. The marketplace may charge a small administrativefee for providing this service.

Financial collaboration assistance network system 400, in accordancewith exemplary aspects of the present invention, may allow individualbenefactors or organized charities (e.g., network participants) (405 a,405 b, 405 c, 405 d) to gift funds to target participants (470 a, 470 b,470 c, 470 d), as representatively illustrated, for example, in FIG. 4.Individuals or entities (405 a, 405 b, 405 c, 405 d) may be assembledinto groups (410, 411) suitably configured as public or privateassistance networks that pool funds (420, 421) for subsequentdistribution to need-based funding targets (470 a, 470 b, 470 c, 470 d).In this embodiment, assistance groups (410, 411) may leverage a networkof known or unknown individuals or charitable organizations to loweradministrative losses typically associated with less efficient charitiesor assistance programs.

Example 5 Debt Reduction Financial Collaboration Networks

The financial collaboration network may extend the lending networksproduct and process to allow participants to lend money to pay offhigher interest credit card debts or other debts. Instead of makingpayouts to individuals, payouts could be to debtors. The marketplace maywork with credit companies and others to set-up networks and paymentplan structures. Debt Reduction Networks could potentially be structuredby a lending company, for example. Individuals who owe funds to the samecompany could join the same Debt Reduction Network. Jointly, debtorscould accelerate payment of each others debts. The network could beintegrated or non-integrated with credit companies.

Example 6 Bulk Buying Financial Collaboration Networks

Leveraging the marketplace presence and functionality, the disclosedfinancial collaboration network system may facilitate a bulk buyingprocess and then offer various ways to finance the goods or services.The service may be offered directly on the marketplace system, at otheronline marketplaces that sell goods or services, or directly at thewebsite of the manufacturer or distributor. The marketplace,individuals, manufacturers or distributors could be able to set up abulk buying network for a product or service type. Individuals whosign-up for bulk buying networks would receive a discount price due tothe volume being sold. Pricing for products and services may beestablished in a number of ways. Prices may be set by auctioning, may bedirectly negotiated between the marketplace and suppliers, and may beset by the marketplace or some other means.

Example 7 Loan Bid Financial Collaboration Networks

In another representative embodiment, the financial collaboration systemmay be suitably configured to create networks for various loan productneeds and then negotiate pricing with lenders either directly, throughan auctioning process or some other form to obtain the lowest possiblecosts for borrowers. The marketplace may be adapted to create BidNetworks for other financial services such as insurance. The negotiationfor Bid Networks may be performed before or after borrowers have beensecured. The marketplace may then post the loan fees and rates and allowindividuals to sign-up to obtain the desired loan with the negotiatedfees and rates.

As an example, home loans and refinancings make-up the largest portionof the consumer lending market. Currently, individuals must either gothrough a mortgage broker or through some other intermediary. There isno easy way for borrowers to tell if they are getting the best dealpossible. The current cost of a loan may be 1.5-3% of the loan becauseof this inefficiency. Lending Networks Marketplace could create atransparent market that allows borrowers to gain transparency andnegotiating power to reduce lending fees by requesting loan productsthrough Bid Networks. In one example, the Marketplace could create aLoan Bid Network of potentially 100 slots (the number of slots could bemore or less or infinite) of A rated individuals for a 30 yearconventional fixed rate loan, assuming 3-5% down and with home valuesnot to exceed $250,000. Lending Networks Marketplace could then openlyauction this Loan Bid Network Online to Lenders in order to define andclearly fix fees for a defined period of time based on any number ofparameters or until closed. Lending Networks Marketplace could thenoffer these slots to individuals for free or for a fee. The Marketplacecould then repeat this process to meet demand on an ongoing basis forthis same product or multiple loan type products and time periods.Lending Networks could potentially be paid a pre-negotiated fee for eachof the deals that are closed through the bidding marketplace. With thisproduct, borrowers would have a way to negotiate lower borrowing costsand lenders could lower costs since they would have lower customeracquisition costs.

The marketplace may chose to run multiple auctioning formatssimultaneously or sequentially to offer borrowers various quotingoptions. As an example, in addition to the example above, themarketplace may chose to structure Bid Networks where borrowers sign-upahead of time for a refundable fee if they accept the winning offer tothe Bid Network which may take place in multiple ways with multipleparameters. In this scenario, borrowers may obtain even lower fees atthe auctioning of the Bid Network since borrowers are more committed andlikely to close on the loan and lenders are therefore more eager to makethe lowest bid on the network in order to earn the business.

In an alternative embodiment, financial collaboration network system 700may embody a financial products/services exchange where lenderparticipants (705 a, 705 b, 705 c, 705 d) are aggregated into groups(710, 711) with pooled funds (720, 721) for funding loans to borrowers(790 a, 790 b, 790 c, 790 d). Borrowers (790 a, 790 b, 790 c, 790 d) maypost loan inquiries on exchange system 700, whereby lender collaborationgroups (710, 711) and/or lender participants themselves (705 a, 705 b,705 c, 705 d) bid to fund loans to borrowers (790 a, 790 b, 790 c, 790d).

Example 8 Investment Financial Collaboration Networks

Leveraging the financial collaboration network model, the collaborationgroup may comprise a Micro Investment Network where individuals arrangeautomatic transfers to pooled investment funds. The investment funds maybe structured to invest in start-up or pre-IPO companies, as well asother investments. This structure would allow small investors theopportunity to engage and invest in an area that is currently onlyavailable to high net-worth individuals and entities. The MicroInvestment Network may be structured to comply with any and all Stateand Federal investment regulations.

The Micro Investment Network may function as follows: the investmentcollaboration group may seek out investment opportunities, researchthem, qualify them based on certain parameters and detail a road-map ofhow the collaboration group may build one or various investmentportfolios and there expected duration. The Marketplace would then listsome or all of these investment opportunities for members to view andread. Members would then be allowed the opportunity to invest or lendfunds to the Micro Investment Network in an automated and continuousmanner or in a lump sum payment. The invested dollars would remain inplace until the portfolio was liquidated. The Marketplace may alsoinstitute a mechanism whereby investors may trade or sell ownershippositions.

Financial collaboration investment network system 600, in accordancewith exemplary aspects of the present invention, may allow investors(e.g., network participants, either persons or business entities) (605a, 605 b, 605 c, 605 d) to provide target participants (670 a, 670 b,670 c, 670 d) with investment funding, as representatively illustrated,for example, in FIG. 6. Investors (605 a, 605 b, 605 c, 605 d) may beassembled into groups (610, 611) suitably configured as investmentnetworks that pool funds (620, 621) for subsequent distribution tofunding targets (670 a, 670 b, 670 c, 670 d). Thereafter, returns oninvestment (680 a, 680 b, 680 c, 680 d) may be paid to the fundingreserves 620 of investment collaboration group 610.

Example 9 Multi-Branch Financial Collaboration Networks

The disclosed financial collaboration network system may be suitablyadapted for operation with the aid of physical branches (e.g., “brickand mortar” branch offices) capable of supporting numerous banking orlending customers. Multi-Branches would work like current check cashingoutlets but would also be able to process transactions for multiplefinancial services companies such as banks, mortgage companies,insurance companies and other companies. The multi-branch financialcollaboration network may be suitably configured to utilize a softwareplatform that would interface with multiple companies in order to cashchecks, receive loan payments, make loans, offer insurance and otherpotential common services. This Multi-Branch model would reduceduplication costs for financial services companies and offer morecompetitive services to customers. The Multi-Branch model may also betied to the Lending Networks financial collaboration network.

Example 10 Home Loan Bid Financial Collaboration Networks

The financial collaboration network system may be configured to providepre-negotiated terms for Bid Networks (i.e., total closing costs for theloan). The Marketplace Network may use other pricing mechanisms such asauctions. Some pricing components may have to be estimated for eachbuyer, such as Interest Rates and Impounds. The size of the Bid Networksmay be dictated by the lenders (e.g., initial size set to 100). TheMarketplace Network may rate the credit of each buyer so that buyers mayonly join Bid Networks that match their credit rating. The MarketplaceNetwork may provide each borrower a good faith estimate as well as anestimated payment given relevant parameters.

TABLE 3 Home Loan Bid Financial Collaboration Network Credit Approx.Loan Type of Loan Score Amount Approx. Fund (Grouped at 30 (GroupedApprox. Down Borrowers (Grouped at Date (Grouped at Yr. Fixed at >700Payment (up to 100) $240k or less) 30 Days or less) Conventional) FICA)(Grouped at >5%)  1   $130,000 Next 30 Days 30 Year Fixed Con. 701$20,000  2   $125,000 Next 30 Days 31 Year Fixed Con. 720 $25,000  3  $200,000 Next 30 Days 32 Year Fixed Con. 725 $40,000  4    $99,000Next 30 Days 33 Year Fixed Con. 725 $10,000  5   $150,000 Next 30 Days34 Year Fixed Con. 725 $20,000  6   $100,000 Next 30 Days 35 Year FixedCon. 725 $10,000  7   $100,000 Next 30 Days 36 Year Fixed Con. 725$10,000  8   $100,000 Next 30 Days 37 Year Fixed Con. 725 $10,000  9  $100.000 Next 30 Days 38 Year Fixed Con. 725 $10,000 10   $100,000Next 30 Days 39 Year Fixed Con. 725 $10,000 11 to 100  $9,000,000 Next30 Days 40 Year Fixed Con. 710 $900,000  TOTAL $10,204,000 $200,000 Approx. Approx. Interest Interest Approx. Buy Down Buyer Quote RateInterest Buy Option Fee (fully Borrowers Quoted Lender (Current DownOption Cost (to refundable if (up to 100) Fees to Close Market Rate)Cost (to 4.75%) 4.5%) deal closes)  1  $2,000 5% No No   $10  2  $2,0005% No No   $10  3  $2,000 5% No No   $10  4  $2,000 5% No No   $10  5 $2,000 5% No No   $10  6  $2,000 5% No No   $10  7  $2,000 5% No No  $10  8  $2,000 5% No No   $10  9  $2,000 5% No No   $10 10  $2,000 5%No No   $10 I1 to 100 $180,000 5% No No   $900 TOTAL $100,000 $1,000

In the example illustrated in Table 3, the marketplace has structured abidding network for up to 100 individuals, looking for a 30 Year FixedConventional Loan that needs funding within 30 days, for borrowers whoplan to put down at least 5% on their homes with loan values under$240,000 and Credit FICO scores over 700. The marketplace maypre-negotiate fixed closing costs for every participant in theportfolio. Buyers may have the additional option of buying down theirinterest and must agree to pay a refundable deposit—refunded or waivedif they close the loan. Based on known parameters, the marketplace mayalso be configured to provide an overall good faith estimate and anestimated monthly or bi-weekly payment. The marketplace may negotiateits fee directly with the Lenders which may be part of the quoted lenderfees. The marketplace may also chose to be a processor of loan paperworkfor the lender and may provide other services that will streamline theirprocesses. The marketplace may also chose to reverse auction or Dutchauction bidding networks before or after borrowers have joined toeffectively create an open and transparent market for lenders andborrowers. The auctioning process may work in any number of ways. As anexample, the marketplace may allow lenders to put in bids for variousbid networks. As bid networks are closed with the necessary number ofborrowers, the bid networks may be awarded to the lender who has postedthe best offer. Under this scenario, if lender ‘A’ had the best offerand no other lenders gave better offers, then lender ‘A’ wouldcontinuously be awarded the business. In another example, themarketplace may decide to bid each and every bid network independently.The marketplace may also chose to make this process fully or at leastpartially transparent.

Example 11 Virtual Treasurer Financial Collaboration Networks

Virtual Treasurer Network system 500, in accordance with exemplaryaspects of the present invention, may allow organizations (510, 511)comprised of organization members (e.g., network participants) (505 a,505 b, 505 c, 505 d) to collect funds from their membership (e.g.,member participants) (580 a, 580 b, 580 c, 580 d), as representativelyillustrated, for example, in FIG. 5. Individuals (e.g., treasurersand/or other officers of an organization) (505 a, 505 b, 505 c, 505 d)may be assembled into groups (510, 511) suitably configured as virtualtreasurers that pool funds (520, 521) derived from funds collected frommember participants (580 a, 580 b, 580 c, 580 d). The organizationthereby saves costs otherwise associated with less efficient methods ofcollecting membership fees and dues.

The present invention may be described herein in terms of functionalblock components, optional selections and various processing steps. Itshould be appreciated that such functional blocks may be realized by anynumber of hardware and/or software components configured to perform thespecified functions. For example, the present invention may employvarious integrated circuit components, e.g., memory elements, processingelements, logic elements, matchable data structures, and the like, whichmay carry out a variety of functions under the control of one or moremicroprocessors or other control devices.

Similarly, the software elements of the present invention may beimplemented with any programming or scripting language such as, forexample, C, C++, Java, COBOL, assembler, PERL, eXtensible MarkupLanguage (XML), etc., or any programming or scripting language now knownor hereafter derived in the art, with the various algorithms beingimplemented with any combination of data structures, objects, processes,routines or other programming elements. Further, it should be noted thatthe present invention may employ any number of conventional techniquesfor data transmission, signaling, data processing, network control, andthe like. Still further, the invention could be used to detect orprevent security issues with a client-side scripting language, such asJavaScript, VBScript or the like. For a basic introduction tocryptography, please review the text written by Bruce Schneider entitled“Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, And Source Code In C,”published by John Wiley & Sons (second edition, 1996).

It should be appreciated that the particular implementations shown anddescribed herein are illustrative of the invention and its best mode andare not intended to otherwise limit the scope of the present inventionin any way. Indeed, for the sake of brevity, conventional datanetworking, application development and other functional aspects of thesystems (and components of the individual operating components of thesystems) may not be described in detail herein. Furthermore, theconnecting lines shown in the various figures contained herein areintended to represent exemplary functional relationships and/or physicalcouplings between the various elements. It should be noted that manyalternative or additional functional relationships or physicalconnections may be present in a practical system.

It will be appreciated, that many applications of the present inventioncould be formulated. One skilled in the art will appreciate that thenetwork may include any system for exchanging data, such as, forexample, the Internet, an intranet, an extranet, WAN, LAN, PAN,satellite communications, and/or the like. It is noted that the networkmay be implemented as other types of networks, such as an interactivetelevision (ITV) network. The users may interact with the system via anyinput device such as a keyboard, mouse, kiosk, personal digitalassistant, handheld computer (e.g., Palm Pilot®), cellular phone and/orthe like. Similarly, the invention could be used in conjunction with anytype of personal computer, network computer, workstation, minicomputer,mainframe, or the like running any operating system such as any versionof Windows, Windows XP, Windows Whistler, Windows ME, Windows NT,Windows2000, Windows 98, Windows 95, MacOS, OS/2, BeOS, Linux, UNIX, orany operating system now known or hereafter derived by those skilled inthe art. Moreover, the invention may be readily implemented with TCP/IPcommunications protocols, IPX, Appletalk, IP-6, NetBIOS, OSI or anynumber of existing or future protocols. Moreover, the systemcontemplates the use, sale and/or distribution of any goods, services orinformation having similar functionality described herein.

Computing units may be connected with each other via a datacommunication network. The network may be a public network and assumedto be insecure and open to eavesdroppers. In one exemplaryimplementation, the network may be embodied as the Internet. In thiscontext, the computers may or may not be connected to the Internet atall times. Specific information related to data traffic protocols,standards, and application software utilized in connection with theInternet may be obtained, for example, from DILIP NAIK, INTERNETSTANDARDS AND PROTOCOLS (1998); JAVA 2 COMPLETE, various authors, (Sybex1999); DEBORAH RAY AND ERIC RAY, MASTERING HTML 4.0 (1997). LOSHIN,TCP/IP CLEARLY EXPLAINED (1997). A variety of conventionalcommunications media and protocols may be used for data links, such as,for example, a connection to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) over thelocal loop, as is typically used in connection with standard modemcommunication, cable modem, Dish networks, ISDN, Digital Subscriber Line(DSL), or various wireless communication methods. Various systems andsub-systems might also reside within a local area network (LAN) whichinterfaces to a network via a leased line (T1, T3, etc.). Suchcommunication methods are well known in the art, and are covered in avariety of standard texts. See, e.g., GILBERT HELD, UNDERSTANDING DATACOMMUNICATIONS (1996).

The present invention may be embodied as a method, a system, a device,and/or a computer program product. Accordingly, the present inventionmay take the form of an entirely software embodiment, an entirelyhardware embodiment, or an embodiment combining aspects of both softwareand hardware. Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of acomputer program product on a computer-readable storage medium havingcomputer-readable program code means embodied in the storage medium. Anysuitable computer-readable storage medium may be utilized, includinghard disks, CD-ROM, optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices,and/or the like.

Data communication is accomplished through any suitable communicationmeans, such as, for example, a telephone network, intranet, Internet,point of interaction device (point of sale device, personal digitalassistant, cellular phone, kiosk, etc.), online communications, off-linecommunications, wireless communications, and/or the like. One skilled inthe art will also appreciate that, for security reasons, any databases,systems, or components of the present invention may consist of anycombination of databases or components at a single location or atmultiple locations, wherein each database or system includes any ofvarious suitable security features, such as firewalls, access codes,encryption, dc-encryption, compression, decompression, and/or the like.

The present invention is described herein with reference to blockdiagrams and flowchart illustrations of methods, apparatus (e.g.,systems), and computer program products according to various aspects ofthe invention. It will be understood that each functional block of theblock diagrams and the flowchart illustrations, and combinations offunctional blocks in the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations,respectively, may be implemented by computer program instructions. Thesecomputer program instructions may be loaded onto a general purposecomputer, special purpose computer, or other programmable dataprocessing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructionsthat execute on the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus create means for implementing the functions specified in theflowchart block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instruction meanswhich implement the function specified in the flowchart block or blocks.The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in theflowchart block or blocks.

Accordingly, functional blocks of the block diagrams and flowchartillustrations support combinations of means for performing the specifiedfunctions, combinations of steps for performing the specified functions,and program instruction means for performing the specified functions. Itwill also be understood that each functional block of the block diagramsand flowchart illustrations, and combinations of functional blocks inthe block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, can be implemented byeither special purpose hardware-based computer systems which perform thespecified functions or steps, or suitable combinations of specialpurpose hardware and computer instructions.

In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described withreference to specific exemplary embodiments; however, it will beappreciated that various modifications and changes may be made withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention as set forth in theclaims below. The specification and figures are to be regarded in anillustrative manner, rather than a restrictive one and all suchmodifications are intended to be included within the scope of thepresent invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should bedetermined by the claims appended hereto and their legal equivalentsrather than by merely the examples described above.

For example, the steps recited in any method or process claims may beexecuted in any order and are not limited to the specific orderpresented in the claims. Additionally, the components and/or elementsrecited in any apparatus claims may be assembled or otherwiseoperationally configured in a variety of permutations to producesubstantially the same result as the present invention and areaccordingly not limited to the specific configuration recited in theclaims.

Benefits, other advantages and solutions to problems have been describedabove with regard to particular embodiments; however, any benefit,advantage, solution to problem or any element that may cause anyparticular benefit, advantage or solution to occur or to become morepronounced are not to be construed as critical, required or essentialfeatures or components of any or all the claims.

As used herein, the terms “comprising”, “having”, “including” or anyvariation thereof, are intended to reference a non-exclusive inclusion,such that a process, method, article, composition or apparatus thatcomprises a list of elements does not include only those elementsrecited, but may also include other elements not expressly listed orinherent to such process, method, article, composition or apparatus.Other combinations and/or modifications of the above-describedstructures, arrangements, applications, proportions, elements, materialsor components used in the practice of the present invention, in additionto those not specifically recited, may be varied or otherwiseparticularly adapted to specific environments, manufacturingspecifications, design parameters or other operating requirementswithout departing from the general principles of the same.

1-62. (canceled)
 63. An online network for peer-to-peer portfolio-basedfinancial transactions, the online network comprising: a plurality ofnetwork participants having a plurality of networked computers withInternet accessible software processes allowing each of the plurality ofnetwork participants to invest in an investment that issues at least oneloan or advance, wherein the plurality of network participants requestthe at least one loan or advance from the investment directly through anentity administering the investment, wherein the investment may beinitiated by at least one of the entity and the plurality of networkparticipants, wherein the investment is structured to reduce risk,wherein the investment may contain an additional risk reducing featureto further offset a default risk of the investment; and wherein theinvestment is located at a destination; and a data processing system incommunication with the plurality of networked computers, the dataprocessing system being configured to manage a corresponding account foreach of the plurality of network participants, wherein the dataprocessing system performs financial transactions including a paymentdeposit related to investment in a portfolio, a loan repayment deposit,a payment distribution associated with the corresponding account foreach of the plurality of network participants, loan or advance requestsof the plurality of network participants, and collection of loan feesfrom the plurality of network participants, wherein the data processingsystem collects a network participants' personal and credit information,wherein the data processing system combines deposits from the pluralityof network participants in a loan fund; wherein loans or advancesrequested by the plurality of network participants are issued on a firstdate by the data processing system from the loan fund based on a fundingcriteria, wherein the data processing system determines whether one ormore network participants of the plurality of network participants hasrepaid the requested loan or advance on at least a second date, whereinthe data processing system may be designed to redistribute at least aportion the portfolio fee among the plurality of network participantswho repaid their respective loan by at least the second date, andwherein the data processing system calculates at least one of a gain anda loss on the investment for at least one lender.
 64. The online networkof claim 63, wherein the plurality of network participants who did notrepay their loans on at least the second date are sent to collections.65. The online network of claim 63, wherein the advanced loan fees maybe charged at the time the loan is provided.
 66. The online network ofclaim 63, wherein an advanced fee can be charged at the time the loan isrepaid with or without interest.
 67. The online network of claim 63,wherein the loan fee can be structured as the difference between theamount of the loan provided to the network participant and the amount ofthe loan that is repaid by the network participant.
 68. The onlinenetwork of claim 63, wherein the loan fee can be a discount on the loanat the time of funding or repayment of the loan plus a fee amount. 69.The online network of claim 63, wherein the data processing system,based on lender instructions can reinvest a gain in the investment. 70.The online network of claim 63, wherein the data processing system,based on lender instructions, can invest a gain in a money marketaccount and other investment vehicles.
 71. The online network of claim63, wherein the data processing system, based on lender instructions,can return a gain to the lender.
 72. The online network of claim 63,wherein the funding criteria include at least one of following: rating,track record, credit worthiness, length of employment, verifiablereferences, collateral, asset guarantees and propensity to pay.
 73. Theonline network of claim 63, wherein a portfolio is hosted on at leastone of an on-line financial company, a market place, an exchange, anon-line group and a social network.
 74. The online network of claim 63,wherein the loans are structured as traditional installment loans,wherein interest is paid during the course of a loan repayment agreementor as traditional cash advances.
 75. The online network of claim 63,wherein a type of loan is as at least one of a home loan, an auto loan,a credit card loan, a home equity loan, an unsecured loan, a securedloan, a student loan, a purchased goods loan, a services loan and apayday loan and advance.
 76. The online network of claim 63, wherein aninvestment's risk is reduced by at least one of a traditionaldiversified portfolio, a traditional diversified fund, and a syndicatedstructure.
 77. The online network of claim 76, wherein the diversifiedportfolios may be set up by various risk profiles such as only a primecredit portfolio or a combination of prime, regular and sub-prime risks.78. The online network of claim 63, wherein the risk reducing featureincludes at least one of a holding a portion of the loan as collateral,wherein the network participants are encouraged to repay the loan byrefunding a portion of the loan fees charged to those who repay, andwherein a refunding of fees is based on the performance of theinvestment.
 79. The online network of claim 63, wherein the destinationof the investment is at least one of a financial company, a marketplace,an exchange, an on-line group and a social network.
 80. The onlinenetwork of claim 63, wherein lenders may be required to keep their fundsin the investment for a set period such as a year.
 81. The onlinenetwork of claim 63, wherein the redistribution of at least the portionof the portfolio fee may be based on the performance of the fund.
 82. Anonline network for financial collaboration and lending, the onlinenetwork comprising: a plurality of network participants comprisingprivate individuals and businesses entities; an online exchange having aplurality of lending group parameters, wherein the lending groupparameters are created by at least one of a market place and a networkparticipant, wherein the lending group parameters allow participants toat least one of offer to lend and advance or ask for loans and advancesdirectly with other participants based on risk criteria and creditterms, invest and fund funds that offer to lend and advance funds toother participants based on risk criteria and credit terms, allowparticipants to request loans and advances from created funds based oncredit criteria and credit terms; wherein at least a first networkparticipant is a borrower and a second network participant is a lender;wherein the network participants can be lenders and borrowers; whereinat least one of the network participants can structure the lending groupparameters to reduce risk; wherein at least one of the networkparticipants can structure the lending group parameters to comply withinternational, federal, state, and local credit laws; and wherein atleast one of the network participants can structure the lending groupparameters to allow for loan syndication; and a data processing systemfor managing a corresponding account for each of the plurality ofnetwork participants, wherein the data processing system is adapted toperform financial transactions including payment deposits and paymentdistributions associated with the corresponding account of the pluralityof network participants, wherein the data processing system collectspersonal and credit information from the network participants, whereinthe data processing system receives instructions and parameters from thenetwork participants for financial transactions; wherein the dataprocessing system receives an electronic payment from at least oneparticipant of the plurality of network participants; wherein the dataprocessing system issues at least one payment to a payment recipient;wherein the payment recipient comprises a participant of the pluralityof network participants; wherein the payment recipient is intended torepay the at least one payment through the data processing system; andwherein the data processing system is located on a computer networkbased system that is Internet accessible.
 83. The online network ofclaim 82, wherein the online exchange is one of a for-profit entity or anon-profit entity.
 84. An online network of claim 82, wherein the onlineexchange further comprises an entity that allows for the aggregation ofa plurality of participants that facilitates and allows person to personfinancial collaboration.